Braces

Im getting frustrated with these things. I've had braces for about a year and a quarter. They say that the braces have straightened out my teeth very much, huge improvements over what it was when i started. But my jaws are not lined up correctly and they dont take them off until my jaws are lined up correctly. Well what disadvantage is it to have my jaw not perfectly align? can some dental student or whatnot clue me in?

Man I had braces three times. The first time I got them off, the Dr wanted to try a new type of retainer. Bad news, all my bottom front teeth turned wrong in the first month. So back went the bottom braces. After I got them off again, the top experimental retainer had turned a few teeth wrong, so back went the top braces. I think I got them off about three days before high school graduation. Al totalled I spent 6 years in combinations of headgear and braces.

Yeah they suck. I've had them for about 15 months and I'm supposed to get them off this summer. They seem to get my teeth about perfect and then do something and they shift back alittle bit. I'm not sure if that's intentional or what.

I'm supposed to be wearing rubber bands on the left side, but I rarely do. They don't notice it unless I mention them at the appointment so I'm not sure how necessary they are.

The annoying thing for me is, I chipped my right front tooth pretty badly in wrestling a while back and my regular dentist, who is very good btw, won't cap it until I get the braces off which is annoying. They'll put a seal on it, but that doesn't fix anything cosmetically.

Im supposed to be wearing these rubber bands on my right. I just dont know why its necessary that my jaws line up perfectly. You know ive been eating food all my life and no problems have come. My teeth are straight.

perfect looks unhuman. My dentist has teeth that are so straight and white they look like plastic. Im sure for the 10 years she spent in braces to achieve this, she can enjoy food far better than the average joe/jane

My mom wanted me to get some, so she took me to the dentist. He was like "well, your teeth are off by about 2 millimeters or less, but if you really want them, I'll put them in for you, but I don't think they're necessary". I was like "no thanks".

If it's not necessary, I wouldn't sweat it, but if you're getting headaches and migranes and stuff, maybe it's best to just deal with them.

but the thing is, I never had head aches or anything. I never wanted them in the first place, the ortho lady just said I need them, my upper jaw was not wide enough and my jaws were not growing in a line and all sorts of fun stuff. argh, why do we need a perfect mouth?

I've seen people getting them later in life. I mean, did the dentist say there would be problems later in life if you didn't have the braces put in? You really don't want to deal with migranes or having your teeth off centered when your wisdom teeth come in or something.

I got braces when I was 31. I had them for just over 2 years. I had a canine tooth that was completely blocked out (it was in front of the other teeth, and above where it should have been). Everything looked great when they finally came off. I was supposed to wear a retainer afterwards, but I got the flu really bad and didn't want to be throwing up with it in my mouth, so I didn't wear it for 3 or 4 days, and my teeth had shifted just enough to make it impossible to go back in. That blocked out tooth has been slowly shifting back to where it was. My lower teeth are great, because I have a permanent retainer bonded to the inside of my front 6 teeth. I'm actually considering getting that tooth fixed again.

As for your rubberbands, only wearing them occasionally will increase the amount of time it takes for your teeth to shift into position. The longer it takes, the more money the orthodontist makes.

Hey, braces are GREAT... for the orthodntist. He's got the Mercedes, tuituion for the kid and his ocean front house got washed away for the second time in five years. Hell yeah, braces are a good thing.

perfect looks unhuman. My dentist has teeth that are so straight and white they look like plastic. Im sure for the 10 years she spent in braces to achieve this, she can enjoy food far better than the average joe/jane

Yeah, but it's the shallow billionaire she can snatch (or already has) that counts.

We had a leading politician in Australia say once that he regarded a good set of choppers as one of the things he considered attractive about a woman. The media picked up on it and he went to hell. It was one of the reasons he was dumped not so long afterwards as a party leader. Pity. At least he was honest. And he stayed married. And he kept his integrity.

My kids suffered braces (thanks to their mother) through teenagehood. And they look great. Nuff said.

I had braces for 6 years. My teeth are nice now, they're not perfect, but I like them. I stopped going tothe orthodontist as soon as he gave me my retainer, now I just wear it at night and everything feels fine. The wierd thing is that my teeth never looked that bad in the first place. I don't get it. I guess all the advice I can give is to wear your elastics as much as possible (or at least make sure to wear them when you go to bed)and hope that it fixes your mouth as quickly as possible.

Forget dentures... Implants! That's the way to go. Get a few strips of titanium bolted onto your mandibles, pop these pearly white enamels on (or gold if that's what you're into), and you're good to go.

Im supposed to be wearing these rubber bands on my right. I just dont know why its necessary that my jaws line up perfectly. You know ive been eating food all my life and no problems have come. My teeth are straight.

PHANTOMCOW
WEAR YOUR RUBBER BANDS

Take the advice of an old man dude -- I've got a little gap between my front teeth that drives me crazy. If you've GOT the braces, and you've GOT the rubber bands, just wear 'em.

We spend all day wearing lycra and getting farmer tans. We'll need every advantage we can get!